The RSPB has criticised plans to develop tidal energy in the Solway Firth. The latest proposal has caused them to ask the government to halt continued feasibility investigations into tidal developments in favour of researching alternative renewable energy sources that will be less damaging to the environment.

A £100,000 feasibility study has now been published that identified four barrage, two lagoon and three tidal reef options. However, development is unlikely to be forthcoming in the near future, as none of the options were rated as having the “best available level of feasibility” in technical, financial or environmental assessments.

But Peter Robertson, the RSPB’s conservation manager for northern England, remains concerned that the area was even being considered for development, as it is a key habitat for many species of wildlife.

In particular he warned of potential impacts on barnacle geese, the entire population of which he claimed winter in the Solway Firth, if the wide, flat mud sediment was disturbed. Whooper swans, pink-footed geese and oyster catchers could also be affected.

120,000 waterbirds that visit the estuary each winter and it remains one of the few habitats that has seemingly remained undisturbed by development.

“The habitat of inter-tidal mudflats and salt marshes is about the closest you’d get in this country to a pristine habitat – and it supports a very large number of birds, as it produces the food the birds need over the winter,” Mr Robertson said.

Mr Robertson said he was not convinced that any currently available options for the Solway Firth could be deployed without damaging the environment. The RSPB recently raised similar concerns over the proposed Severn Barrage, and the organisation is becoming increasingly frustrated with the government’s focus on tidal energy.

“It’s premature to start funding feasibility studies – public money shouldn’t have been spent on an outcome that could have been guessed beforehand. Instead, let’s spend the next few years investing in technology that we can use in estuaries.”

He called for money to be spent on developing technologies that might make it possible to develop renewable energy without impacting on the environment of the estuary, including options other than tidal energy.

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